...Rebound in power consumption post COVID-19 to push up State Grid Corp. of China's (SGCC) T&D revenue. The company's financial performance will likely recover as the COVID-19 pandemic subsides. The rebound in power consumption in China since the second half of 2020 has contributed to a pick-up in SGCC's T&D revenue. In the first six months of 2021, power consumption in the country grew 16.2% year-on-year. We estimate SGCC's power sales volume will increase by 7% in 2021 and about 5% per year over 2022-2023, compared with a 2.9% growth in 2020. As a result, we expect its T&D revenue will rise by 7%-8% in 2021 and 4%-5% in 2022-2023. We estimate SGCC's average retail tariff will be largely stable over 2021-2023, with a slight decline from 2020 levels. The fall in tariff will be mainly driven by expansion of market-based power trading over the next one to two years. In 2020, SGCC's power sales revenue fell by about 1%, partly due to a 5% cut in retail tariffs for certain commercial and industrial...
